Part 10 (1/2)
”What! you tell me this to my face? Shall we try it, then?” shouted Schonan in a pa.s.sion.
”Thank you, I shall not marry a second time. Do not trouble yourself.”
”I have not the slightest idea of it. I had enough of it with that one jilting; you do not need to do it a second time”; with which the Chief Forester pushed back his chair angrily and left.
Frau von Eschenhagen remained quietly seated. After awhile she called in a quite friendly manner: ”Moritz!”
”What is it?” sounded crossly from the other side of the terrace.
”When is Herbert to come with his young wife?”
”At twelve o'clock,” came the curt reply.
”I am glad of that. I have not seen him since he was sent to your capitol, but I have always said that Herbert was the pride of our family, whom one could parade anywhere. He is now Prussian Amba.s.sador to His Excellency at your court.”
”And a young husband of fifty-six years, besides,” said Herr von Schonan scornfully.
”Yes, he took his time to marry, but then he has made a splendid match for all that. It was surely no little thing for a man of his years to win a wife like Adelaide, young, beautiful, rich----”
”And of burgher descent,” interrupted Schonan.
”Nonsense! Who asks nowadays after a pedigree when a million is involved. Herbert can make use of it. He has had to get along with small means all of his life, and the position of amba.s.sador will require more display than the salary will admit of. And my brother does not need to be ashamed of his father-in-law, for Stahlberg is one of our first industry men and a man of honor from tip to toe, besides. It was a pity that he died after the marriage of his daughter, for she has surely made a sensible choice.”
”Pouf! You call it a sensible choice when a girl of eighteen takes a husband who could be her father?” cried the Chief, drawing near in the heat of the controversy. ”Of course when one becomes a baroness and the wife of the Prussian Amba.s.sador, one plays a big role in society. This beautiful, cool Adelaide, with her 'sensible' ideas which would do credit to a grandmother, is not congenial to me at all. A sensible girl who falls heels over head in love and declares to her parents, 'This one or none at all,' is much more to my taste.”
”Well, these are beautiful ideas for a father!” cried Frau von Eschenhagen indignantly. ”It is exceedingly fortunate that Toni has taken after my sister and not after you, for otherwise you might live to see the like in her. Stahlberg raised his daughter better. I know from himself that she obeyed his wish when she gave her hand to Herbert, and so, of course, it is all right and as it should be. But you do not understand anything about educating children.”
”What! I, a man and a father, not understand the bringing up of children?” shouted Schonan, cherry-red with vexation.
The two were in the best possible condition to fly at each other again, but fortunately they were interrupted this time, for a young girl, the daughter of the house, stepped out on the terrace.
Antonie von Schonan could not be called exactly pretty, but she had a stately figure like her father and a fresh, blooming face, with light brown eyes. Her brown hair was folded in simple plaits around her head and her dress, although suitable to her position, was also plain. But Antonie was in those years when youth displaced every other charm, and as she drew near, fresh, healthy, stately in her whole appearance, she was exactly the daughter-in-law after Frau von Eschenhagen's own heart, and she nodded in a friendly way to her.
”Father, the carriage is returning from the station,” said the young lady in a very deliberate, somewhat drawling tone. ”It is already at the foot of the castle mount. Uncle Wallmoden will be here in fifteen minutes.”
”What, tausend! They have driven like lightning!” exclaimed the Chief Forester, whose face brightened at the news. ”Are the rooms all in order?”
Toni nodded as calmly as if that were a self-evident fact. As her father started off to look for the carriage which was to bring his guests, Frau von Eschenhagen said with a glance at the little basket which the young girl carried: ”Well Toni, you have been busy again?”
”I have been in the kitchen garden, dear aunt. The gardener insisted that there were no pears ripe as yet, but I looked for myself and gathered a basketful.”
”That is right, my child,” said her future mother-in-law, highly satisfied. ”One must have her eyes and hands everywhere, and never rely upon servants. You will some day be a splendid housekeeper. But now let us go. We will also meet the uncle.”
CHAPTER IX.
Herr von Schonan was already in advance and just descending the wide stone steps which led to the castle court, when a man emerged from one of the side buildings and came to a standstill, bowing his greeting respectfully.
”Hallo, Stadinger; what are you doing at Furstenstein?” cried the Chief Forester. ”Come up here.”